Currently, commercial manufacturers of bulk tuna salad acquire tuna in large cans or vacuum pouches which have been subjected to retorting or “sterilizing” to kill vegetative pathogenic spores at the center of the package so that the tuna will be safe to use when the cans or pouches are opened and used in making tuna salad in facilities maintained at room temperature. The retorting may be carried out, for example, by placing precooked tuna loin in sealed 10″×15″ pouches or cans and heating for about 97 minutes or more at temperatures of about 121° C. or more. Such relatively aggressive retorting processes have been thought to be necessary to ensure that the product will be stable at room temperature until the cans or pouches are ultimately opened and the tuna is either eaten or added to other ingredients to make dishes like tuna salad. However, heating at such elevated temperatures for such extended periods degrades the organoleptic properties of the tuna making it dry and hurting its appearance so that the tuna itself and dishes made from it are adversely affected. This is of particular concern with respect to commercially made bulk tuna salad which must be as appealing as possible to satisfy customers like restaurants and individual consumers.
The prior art may also generally discuss cooking precooked tuna loins or shellfish at temperatures in the range of about 80-110° C. for varying cooking times in attempts to improve storage characteristics. However, such prior art techniques which do not employ the relatively aggressive retorting processes referenced above are not considered effective in making can or pouch stored tuna safe for consumption without additional processing to kill vegetative pathogenic spores.
The prior art thus does not teach or suggest the present methods in which the tuna cans or pouches are subjected to an abbreviated or gentler sterilizing step, and then chilled or frozen, and used in making tuna salad. In this new method, the tuna and other tuna salad ingredients are maintained in a chilled condition during the preparation of the tuna salad and the final tuna salad product is kept in a chilled condition until presented for eating. This method is more efficient and economical than prior art methods and produces a superior tuna salad product. It makes it possible to substantially reduce heating or retort time and to improve the organoleptic properties of the tuna salad end product while maintaining good shelf life.